No plan is good enough so keep on planning !

Out of my 20 years in IT projects, I am yet to see a project, which went as per the plan from start till the end. We started every project with the best of intentions and tried to create the the best project plan ever, which never happened.  Some of the key learnings were;

• Dont try to plan a project from start till end in detail
• Start with a road map (with major milestones identified)
• Break the project to the work package levels and estimate at the work package levels
• For the immediate window (say 30 days – plan in detail at the activity level)
• Use the simplest of the tools and stick to it
• Keep perfecting / updating / changing the plan throughout the project. It is not a one time activity, it is an ongoing activity